Bringing Out The Dead
by au.stories
Summary: Strange dreams, voices only she can hear and a pile of dead bodies. Something is happen to Jenna Sommers that she can't explain. Add the Mikaelsons into the mix and you have the perfect recipe for disaster. (Starts at 3x13, AU, Jenna's alive, Teen Wolf inspired)
1. Life Is Weird

**I have always loved Jenna and I had this idea in my head for a while. I also like Teen Wolf and basically mashed up the characters Lydia and Jenna for this story.**

* * *

 **1**

Jenna blinked and sucked in the air around her. It felt like she had just broken through the water surface and was in desperate need of air. She looked around. Somehow she knew exactly where she was, even if she couldn't for the life her explain why she had ended up standing in a cave under the old Lockwood cellar, looking at a coffin.

Something had drawn her here, but she couldn't explain what that something was. She heard strange things, has for a while now. The problem with that was that she seemed to be the only one hearing them. What she heard weren't exactly words, but Jenna was almost certain that it was a voice speaking to her.

The coffin in front of her looked new, that meant it couldn't have been here for long. For some reason Jenna had the overwhelming urge to open it. She wondered who might be buried down here.

As Jenna walked closer to the coffin that was calling to her, she heard that voice again, louder this time. The strange sounds almost sounded like words now, but she couldn't make sense of it.

When Jenna finally stood in front of the coffin, her hands automatically went to the lid. She didn't know why it was so important to open it up. When she tried to lift the lid, she couldn't. Even using all her muscle strength, she couldn't open the coffin up. Not even a little bit.

Jenna sighed and stepped back. All of this was crazy. She should get out of here, go home and pretend that none of this has ever happened. She could do that, she was good at that.

When she turned to leave she heard the voice again, but it still made no sense. Someone was trying to tell her something, but she couldn't understand. It was making her angry now.

"Shut up! Okay, I cannot understand you, just stop."

The voice got louder. It felt like it was right inside her head now. Jenna scrunched up her face and tried to counteract the pain in her head by pushing her hands against it with all her strength. Eventually it got too much and Jenna screamed as loud as she could.

When she had finally stopped screaming, she felt drained of most of her strength. She could barely hold herself up on her feet. Jenna made it over a couple of steps and let herself sink down to the ground, breathing hard. She thought she had heard someone saying something like 'break the spell'.

A click caught her attention and she looked over to the coffin. The lid slowly opened and Jenna's breath got caught in her throat. Even if she had wanted to scream again, she had nothing left in her to do so.

 _This has to be a dream_ , Jenna thought. _This can't really be happening._

The occupant of the coffin rose and sat up. It was a middle aged woman with long blond hair. She was wearing a dress that looked like it had seen better days, maybe even a better century. She looked like someone right out of the Middle Ages.

When she turned, Jenna leaned further back, but was intrigued none the less. Who was this person and why was she lying in a coffin hidden away in a cave. Also, why wasn't she dead.

The woman got out of the coffin and stretched her body.

"Thank you for helping me, Jenna. I will not forget that." Her voice sounded friendly, but there was something in her eyes that told Jenna she might not be a friend at all.

"How do you know my name?" Of all the questions she could've have asked, that came out of her mouth first.

The woman laughed in a way a mother might laugh after her child asked an adorable but silly question. "I have to go and meet my family now, but we'll see each other again."

The woman left and Jenna blinked, wondering if she had completely lost her mind.

Now you might think this would be the oddest thing that has ever happened to Jenna, but really, it was only one of many odd/scary things that have been happening to her lately.

It had all started when Jenna had stabbed herself in her kitchen. She remembered being on the phone and then she took the kitchen knife and stabbed herself in her stomach. Luckily, she had missed any major artery. After a brief hospital stay, she was able to go home again.

Afterwards people tried to make her believe she had walked into a knife, which struck her as odd because she couldn't understand why they were all trying so hard to cover up what had really happened. Even stranger, she had let them believe that they had convinced her, thinking maybe she was the one remembering incorrectly.

Since that day nothing had been quite the same as before.

A lot of things had been going on at home that Jenna couldn't make sense of. Elena had gotten more secretive and Jeremy, well, he was basically still the same untamable teenager who hated the world and everything in it.

And let's not forget that her Alaric's, her now sort of ex-boyfriend, supposed dead wife, Isobel, isn't as dead as Jenna was made to believe and also turned out to be Elena's birth mother. To top it all off John Gilbert is Elena's biological father.

It can't get any weirder than that, Jenna had thought, but that was before she had taken a hike through the woods in the middle of the night without even realizing that she had done it.

Much like today she hadn't woken out of her trace until she was where she had been drawn to. That night she had found herself in front of a shallow grave. Who knows what had possessed her to actually start digging, but that's the story of how she found the corpse of her old friend Tyler Lockwood. She had screamed her lungs out once had realized who it was and started running back into town as fast as she could.

Jenna hasn't told anyone about that night. She had wanted to, but how was she supposed to explain how she knew where to find the dead body of Mason Lockwood. He wasn't even officially missing. A few days later, Hikers had come across the unearthed body and reported it to the authorities. At least Mason had been able to be buried properly.

The scariest night she had had so far was a couple of weeks ago. She was sleeping uneasy in her bed, tossing and turning. Jenna had this feeling that something bad was about to happen. Her dreams changed from one thing to the next until she finally focused in on one thing. Elena was standing in a circle of fire. In the other two circles beside her lay two dead women and Stefan lay unconscious on the ground. Someone was chanting something, but Jenna was only focused on Elena.

When the fire died down, a man stepped up behind Elena. Why she wasn't running away, Jenna couldn't understand.

"Go to hell," Elena said before the man's face changed and he sunk his teeth into her neck, draining her of all her blood.

When Elena's lifeless body hit the floor, Jenna woke up and screamed so loud she was sure she would be waking the whole neighborhood. With a feeling of dread she tried to find Elena the next morning and when she had found her at Stefan's she was relieved to see her niece alive and well. From Elena's face, however, she knew immediately that something was wrong.

John Gilbert had died the previous night. They said he had suffered a heart attack, but Jenna never really fully believed that story. It felt like the whole walking into a knife incident again.

The odd things just kept piling up. She should probably talk to someone about it, but how was she supposed to do that without having them commit her.

Jenna shook her head to clear out all the crazy thoughts. She got up off the ground and made her way back to the outside. Blinding sunlight greeted her and she winced. Seems like she was in for another hike back home.


	2. Meeting the Mikaelsons

**2**

Jenna still lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. A few days had passed since she had found herself in a cave, freeing an unknown woman from a coffin. Nothing had changed to her knowledge, nothing bad had happened since then. The world kept on turning.

Her thoughts were constantly occupied with what it all meant. So much so that others started to notice. Elena had asked her several times if she was feeling okay, if there was something she wanted to talk about. Jenna had wanted nothing more than to spill everything, but she couldn't bring herself to speak the words. It sounded too crazy and denial was so much easier.

On the upside, the strange voice was gone and no more disturbing dreams had robbed her of her sleep.

When Jenna heard the door bell ring, she finally got out of bed and got dressed. On her way downstairs she heard Stefan, Damon and Elena talking. She didn't want to eavesdrop and announced herself. All three of them instantly shut up and smiled at her instead.

"Good morning," Elena greeted her aunt.

 _Yes, not suspicious at all_ , Jenna thought.

"Who was at the door?" Jenna asked and poured herself a cup of coffee.

"No one, just an invitation. We have been invited by the Mikaelson's for drinks and dancing this evening," Elena explained and held up a white envelope in one hand and an invitation in the other, making sure her aunt only saw the front of the invitation.

"Who are the Mikaelsons?" Jenna asked, never having heard of the name. Stefan and Damon seemed to be as much at a loss as she was. "Have you heard of them?"

Elena didn't answer right away, instead she chose her words carefully. "Remember Elijah? It's his family. They moved into town recently. His younger sister, Rebekah, is in some of my classes."

Jenna saw recognition cross the Salvatore's faces. She had met Elijah and helped him with his project. Maybe he went by a different name now or she had mixed something up in her head. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen him around for a while.

"Guess, we'll be going to a party tonight," Jenna said and smiled. Finally something normal again, Jenna thought. After everything she needed one normal night and what was more normal in Mystic Falls than a party.

What Jenna hadn't seen as she was exiting the kitchen were the less than excited faces of the others.

"Why did you tell Jenna about this?" Damon asked after he was sure Jenna was out of ear shot. "You don't really plan on going there, are you?"

Elena stood her ground, "I am and I will meet Esther and see what she has to say."

"Absolutely not. We still don't know how she even got out of that coffin. Stefan, back me up here," Damon looked over to his brother for help.

"I think Elena knows what she's doing. Besides, the only way to assess the threat is to go and see for ourselves what we're dealing with now. We were led to believe that whoever is in the coffin, can help us kill Klaus. I say we all go tonight."

Damon sighed, exasperated, "You're both idiots."

 **xxxxxx**

Calling it a party was clearly an understatement. As soon as the big double doors had opened to admit Elena and Jenna into the Mansion, Jenna knew this was no ordinary party. Everyone was dressed in their finest dresses and suits. Yet it was fitting for Mystic Falls. This town loved to go all out.

Around the room, Jenna saw many familiar faces. Carol Lockwood waved at her and Jenna felt a pang in her chest. She tried to smile back, but was relieved when Carol was greeted by another guest, diverting her attention away from Jenna.

"I'm guessing the Mikaelsons have quite a bit of money," Jenna muttered and Elena agreed with that. Her attention seemed to be elsewhere, however.

"You seem a little tense. Is everything alright with you and Stefan?" Jenna asked her niece. She had wondered why he hadn't picked up Elena tonight, as he usually does. Jenna had a suspicion that maybe the two of them were in a bit of a difficult phase. It happens to the best of couples.

Elena smiled at Jenna and assured her that everything was alright, "Stefan and I, we are taking a bit of time for ourselves. Nothing too dramatic."

Jenna knew to take the hint in Elena's voice. In any case, this wasn't the place or time to discuss either of their love lives anyway. They both made their way into the hall and grabbed a glass of champagne when they were greeted by a familiar voice.

"Elena, Jenna, I'm glad to see the two of you again."

Jenna turned and looked up into Elijah's smiling face. She noticed his hair was shorter now, but other than that, he looked as handsome in a suit as she remembered.

"Yes, it's been a while. I didn't know you and your family had moved here permanently."

Elena's eyes shifted away and Elijah's smile wavered only for a second, "Yes, that was a rather last minute decision. We like it here, so we thought why not make this our home."

Before their conversation could continue, they got interrupted by someone calling everyone to attention. Elijah seemed to take this as his cue.

"Excuse me," Elijah said and grabbed a glass of champagne before he made his way over to the big staircase. A few other people had gathered on it. Jenna guessed this must be the rest of the Mikaelson family.

Elijah started to greet the guests and talked about his family, but Jenna wasn't really listening. She almost forgot to breathe when her eyes swept over the Mikaelson Family. Elijah was not the only familiar face on that staircase.

The face of the blonde man standing a bit further up from Elijah was a perfect match to the face Jenna remembered from her nightmare. He was the one whose face had changed into a monster's mask, he was the one who had killed her niece.

Jenna remembered to take a breath again. This was crazy. It couldn't be him. None of this had really happened. It had just been a dream.

 _Elena wasn't dead_ , Jenna reminded herself and took a quick glance to her side to make sure Elena was still standing beside her.

But still it would have been a lot more convincing if the woman, standing all the way at the top, wasn't the one Jenna had freed from a coffin the other day. Her hair was shorter now and her dress was of this century, but her face was still the same.

Their eyes locked for a moment and Jenna thought she had seen a ghost of a smile on the woman's face, acknowledging her. She had said she needed to go and meet her family and the wheels in Jenna's head started turning again. Then everyone moved. Elijah had finished his speech and everyone was following him into another room.

Instead of following, the woman turned and disappeared up the stairs. Jenna got swept along with the other guests, still wondering what the hell was going on here.

 **xxxxxx**

After the opening dance had ended, some people remained dancing, others found a quieter place for conversation. Jenna had watched her niece dancing with Damon and hadn't liked how close the two of them seemed. There was definitely tension between her Damon and Stefan, but it wasn't Jenna's business.

Elena was walking up the stairs and Jenna was following close behind. Up here was the woman somewhere, Elijah's mother. Jenna was trying to find her and maybe get some answers.

Elijah turned a corner and joined Elena. Jenna couldn't hear what they were talking about, but she figured if she followed them, she could ask Elijah where to find his mother. They both stopped in front of a door, Elijah knocked on it and left. Jenna had meant to follow, but she didn't want Elena to see her following Elijah. She waited until Elena had entered the room, then hurried along.

Jenna wondered about what was going on here, but one thing at a time.

When she was almost to the door, another man stepped out and closed the door behind him. Jenna stopped before she ran right into him. He turned and she realized that she was standing in front of another Mikaelson.

"Excuse me, I wasn't watching where I was going," Jenna apologized.

"Not a problem," he said with a slight accent. "You have arrived with Elena Gilbert this evening, correct?"

"Yes, she's my niece."

Jenna's confusion must have shown, because the stranger continued, "I'm sorry, where are my manners. I'm Finn Mikaelson."

"Jenna Sommers," she reached for Finn's outstretched hand and shook it. He held on to Jenna's hand and placed a kiss on it, before releasing it.

 _Charming_ , Jenna thought. Not the brother she was going after, but while she was here she might as well ask him. "I was wondering if I could speak to your mother."

His eyes shifted to the door, then back to Jenna. Was his mother inside? And if so, why was Elena with her?

"I'm afraid my mother is busy at the moment, but how about a dance. I'm sure she'll have time for a chat later."

"Oh, I don't think..."

"Oh please, what's the harm in one little dance? With a beautiful woman no less." Finn smiled at Jenna and she found herself smiling back. She had to hand it to the Mikaelsons, they certainly had charm and knew how to use it.

And just like that she allowed Finn Mikaelson to lead her back downstairs and onto dance floor. Finn turned out to be a great dancer. It had been a while since she had to do any kind of ballroom dancing, but she managed to keep up.

"So, why did your family choose Mystic Falls of all places?" Jenna asked and Finn took a moment to consider how to answer that.

"We kind of moved all over the map for the last few years, but we are originally from around here. You could say we are finally back home again."

 _Reuniting with your not so dead mother_ , Jenna thought, but said instead, "That's nice."

While they continued dancing, Jenna saw that Elena had returned from whatever she had been doing. She frowned when she saw Jenna. It looked like she was going to come over, but was stopped by Elijah, who led her back out into the hall.

Finn stopped their dance and smiled, "I think my mother is ready to make a toast."

Jenna nodded and followed him out into the hall where everyone else was gathering. Once again, waiters were making their rounds and making sure everyone had a glass of champagne. Finn took two glasses and handed one over to Jenna. The champagne looked different than before. This one had a more reddish tinge to it.

"I want to thank everyone for coming tonight," Esther started by thanking everyone and continued with how happy she was that her family was finally back together.

"Thank you for being part of this wonderful evening," Esther ended her speech and raised her glass up high. "Cheers."

"Cheers," echoed through the hall. Everyone raised their glasses and took a sip of the champagne. As soon as the liquid touched Jenna's lips, she knew something was wrong. The taste was off somehow. There was this feeling of dread inside her gut again. From her past experience nothing good ever followed.

 _Not tonight_ , Jenna thought. _This is not happening again._

"Are you alright?" Finn's voice brought Jenna back from her thoughts.

Jenna tried for a smile, "I'm not feeling so well. I think I will go home now."

"I thought you wanted to talk to my mother?"

"Another time. Thank you for the dance, maybe we'll see each other again," Jenna said goodbye and started to make her way to the door. She made only one more stop to tell Elena that she was leaving.

By the time Jenna was exiting through the front door and made her way down the long driveway to get to her car, Finn was standing in his mother's room, looking out of the window, watching her leave.

"I don't quite understand why Jenna Sommers is important to our plan," Finn said and turned to his mother.

"She was important for waking me from my slumber and getting me out of that coffin. I suppose I could have waited for the Bennett witches to break the spell, but Jenna was doing just fine, not to mention she was much faster. She might even be of help again, who knows."

"She was asking for you this evening," Finn continued. "When she drank from the second batch of champagne, she wasn't feeling well afterwards. Do you think she noticed something?"

Esther considered that for a moment, "Jenna is sensitive to the magic around her, even when she doesn't understand it. She must have questions, but I'm afraid those will have to wait a little longer. Why don't you keep an eye on her, just in case."

Finn nodded and watched his mother unfold a piece of paper and placing it on the table. She wrote all her children's names on it. "You understand what linking all of you together will mean?"

Finn nodded again, "I do and I'm willing to die when the time is right."

Esther smiled sadly up at her brave son. She didn't want to kill her children all over again, but there was simply no other way. She must undo the evil she had created.

"Alright, let's start then."


	3. Getting Some Answers

**3**

The next morning came much too soon for Jenna's liking. As expected she hadn't gotten much sleep. Her brain just wouldn't stop bombarding her with questions. What was up with The Mikaelson Matriarch, why had she been lying in a coffin and what was her family really doing here? Why did Jenna feel like she was going crazy? Where did the strange noises come from? Why does she black out and find dead bodies?

So many questions and Jenna didn't have a single answer.

"Jenna, can you hear me? Are you feeling okay?"

Jenna blinked and realized that Elena sat beside her at the kitchen table. She hadn't heard her enter the kitchen or sit down.

"Yes, I'm fine," Jenna said and wiped her face with her hand, hoping to brush away her sleepy face.

"As someone who tells people she's fine a lot, I know that that's not always the truth," Elena said and gave her aunt a look that told her she should just fess up. "You have been acting a little strange lately. Are you sure that everything is alright?"

Jenna sighed, If she only knew where to begin. She smiled at the concern in her nieces voice, "I've had trouble sleeping. I'm just tired and I think it's starting to show."

 _Not a complete lie_ , Jenna decided and took a big gulp of coffee.

Elena poured herself a cup and leaned back in her chair. "Is that why you left early last night?"

Jenna swallowed slowly, trying to buy some time before answering, "Yes, the fatigue was getting to me."

"Did you have fun at all? I saw you dancing with Finn Mikaelson."

Jenna remembered her niece's face when she had seen her and Finn dance. She thought Elena had looked less than approving of her dance partner.

"Sure, Finn had asked me to dance, that's all," Jenna explained and turned the question around. "Did you enjoy last night? Did you talk to Finn's mother yesterday? What did she have to say? Are they settling in well?"

"How do you know that?" Elena narrowed her eyes slightly, then realized she had confirmed her aunt's question without meaning to.

Jenna shrugged, "I thought I saw you with her. Maybe I was mistaken."

Elena hesitated, "She wanted to talk to me about Rebekah. She's having a bit of trouble finding new friends at school. She thought maybe I could help out."

 _So now we're both liars_ , Jenna thought. Elena may know that Jenna was hiding something, but Jenna wasn't stupid either. Neither one of them was being honest.

"That's really nice of you."

Elena nodded and got up, "I'll be out for a while, call me if you need me."

"Alright, don't come back too late, tomorrow is a school day," Jenna yelled after her niece.

Jenna still had no answers to any of her questions, but she was more sure than ever that Elena knew more about what was going on here than she was letting on. The real question was if Jenna really wanted to know what that might be. There was really only one way to find out.

 **xxxxx**

It had taken her about an hour to get ready and leave the house. During that time she had talked herself twice out of coming back here, but in the end Jenna had taken her car and driven out to the Mikaelsons.

Jenna took a deep breath and rang the door bell. There was no way she could be sure who of the Mikaelsons would be opening the door, she hoped it was someone she had already met. With a sigh of relief, Jenna smiled when Elijah answered the door.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?" Charming as ever, but also confused, he admitted Jenna into the house. Elijah clearly had not expected to see her here and she couldn't blame him for that.

"I was hoping to speak to your mother," Jenna explained.

"My mother?"

 _Here goes nothing_ , Jenna thought and got straight to the point. "Yes, I figured since I did free her from her coffin I have earned the right to a chat with her."

Elijah's face was priceless. He tried to form a sentence, but words failed him. Of all the reasons he could have thought of why Jenna was here, that was certainly not one of them. The wheels in his head started turning. Since last night he was sure that his mother was planning something other than a happy family reunion. And now Jenna showed up, someone who before this had no clue about the supernatural.

Elijah caught Jenna's eyes with his, "I think you should leave again."

Elijah expected Jenna to follow his compulsion and reached for the door, but Jenna only shook her head and blinked a couple of times. "No, I came to speak to your mother. Can you show me to her or not?"

That's when Finn came jogging down the stairs. "Jenna, how lovely to see you again."

"I see the two of you have met. Finn, Jenna here would like to talk to our mother."

"I know," Finn smiled, confusing his brother even further. "This way, mother is expecting you."

Once again Jenna allowed Finn to lead her away, leaving Elijah staring after them. He was joined by Klaus, who demanded to know what was going on.

Elijah turned to him, shaking his head, "Honestly, I have no idea."

 **xxxxx**

Stefan and Damon were discussing where they might find the old ledgers from their family's business. Elena was sitting on their couch, not really listening to a word they were saying. She was still thinking about the conversation she had had with Jenna this morning. Her aunt was hiding something and Elena wasn't sure if she needed to be concerned about that.

"Are you even listening? Where's your head at today?" Damon asked.

"I'm worried about Jenna," Elena explained. "Something is going on with her and she won't say what it is. I saw her dancing with Finn last night and was worried he had maybe done something to her, but she seemed alright, just distracted and sleepy. She has been like this for a while now."

"You think she might have started to remember things? Things she was compelled to forget? That can make people think they might be going a little crazy," Damon said.

Elena sighed, that thought was not helping.

"If you're really that worried, I could compel her to tell us everything she knows." Stefan asked.

"She's on vervain, remember? After the whole Katherine incident I made sure she used her perfume again, the vervain one. Besides, I don't want to her to be compelled more than absolutely necessary."

Elena didn't like to think back to how Katherine had used Jenna to teach them a lesson. Her aunt had barely survived and Elena blamed herself for that. She just wanted to make sure it won't happen again.

"Here's a crazy thought, just _ask_ her." Damon didn't understand what the problem was. In his mind it seemed simple. What was the worst that could happen? Jenna would finally get to know what's really going in Mystic Falls. Maybe not the worst idea after what Katherine had done to her.

"I tried, but I couldn't. It seemed like there was something she wanted to tell me, too. I think we both just need to say it out loud and get it over with, no matter how crazy it'll sound."

"Sounds like a plan and while you work on that, we'll be trying to find us some white oak to stake an Original with," Damon was trying to get this conversation back on track.

Elena frowned, she thought the tree had been burned down by the Originals. Stefan explained to her that Alaric had finally been able to translate more of the writing that they had found on the cave wall under the Lockwood Cellar. They were pretty sure that there had been a second tree.

"And you think the tree is still here somewhere?"

"No, when have we ever gotten that lucky?" Damon sighed. "Fortunately, our family made some of their fortune by selling lumber. If we can find the old ledgers, we might just be able to trace what they had used the white oak for."

Stefan shrugged, "It's worth a shot. In any case, it'll be a backup plan if Esther fails in killing Klaus."

 _That's right_ , Elena thought. _They don't know yet._

"There is something I need to tell you about my conversation with Esther last night," Elena started to explain everything they had been talking about. About how the witch had used her blood to bind the siblings together, using Finn as the focus. "She doesn't just want Klaus dead, she wants to kill all the Originals."

Damon liked what he was hearing, "That would take care of everything then."

Elena nodded, but remained skeptical, "I don't know, I got the feeling that maybe Esther wasn't telling everything. You're right, you should try and find the white oak. I'll try to figure out what's going on with Jenna. We don't want any surprises."

 **xxxxx**

Finn led Jenna back to the exact same spot she had almost run into him last night. He opened the door for her, the same door Elena had walked through. So Jenna had been right, Elena had been here to talk to Finn's mother.

Inside Jenna was greeted by an unfamiliar but aromatic smell. She found the source easy enough. Something was burning in a bowl on the table to her left. Must be some sort of incense, Jenna figured.

"Hello Jenna, I thought you might stop by sooner or later."

In the middle of the room sat the woman Jenna had come to see. She was seated on a small couch, facing the window. Finn closed the door behind him and suddenly Jenna didn't feel so confident anymore.

"Mrs. Mikaelson, I'm here because..."

The woman held up her hand to stop Jenna, "Please, call me Esther."

Jenna nodded and started over, "I'm here because I have a few questions. I was hoping you could provide me with some answers."

"Come, sit down with me. Let's see if I can bring some enlightenment." Esther smiled and padded the spot beside her on the couch and Jenna obeyed. No one said anything for a moment. Esther studied Jenna from head to toe, which only made the latter more nervous.

"I'm not really sure how to start. Over the past couple of months strange things have been happening," Jenna started to tell Esther about the strange incidents, the dead bodies, the strange voices. It felt good to finally let it all out. "And then there was...well, the thing with me opening the coffin and you getting out of it."

"I see...you are very sensitive to the supernatural around you, though I'm guessing that wasn't always the case from what you have told me. It's a recent development. Something must have triggered it. I sensed you out there and tried reaching out. I'm afraid we had a bit of communication difficulties, but it all worked out in the end."

Jenna was not understanding what Esther was getting at. What did she mean by supernatural? This was crazy.

 _Not crazier than anything you've just told her_ , Jenna reminded herself.

"So the noise I heard, that really was you talking to me?"

"I think there is really no other way then to say it straight out," Esther said. "The supernatural world, it exists, and not everything is just a bedtime story. For example, I'm a witch and my children are all vampires."

Jenna blinked twice, then started laughing out loud. This really was crazy. Esther couldn't really be serious about that. From the corner of her eyes, Jenna noticed Finn stepping closer. He had been standing so still by the door, she had almost forgotten he was still here. Suddenly her laughter died and she looked slightly worried up at him. Had she really been dancing with a vampire last night?

"You must understand how crazy that sounds," Jenna said and Esther smiled knowingly at her.

"You're right, I suppose it does. Perhaps a little demonstration will make things more believable," Esther turned to her son and nodded. "Finn, please show Jenna."

Finn grouched down in front of Jenna. He didn't look like he was thrilled about his mother's request, but he didn't complain. Then his face started to change. Finn's eyes got redder and veins became visible under them. When he parted his lips, Jenna sucked in a breath and stared at the elongated fangs. Immediately she flashed back to parts of her dream and her heartbeat quickened. She had seen someone else with a face like that before and suddenly it clicked.

Jenna whipped her head around and faced Esther again, "You're son, the blonde one, he killed Elena."

"Yes, Niklaus was always somewhat of a trouble maker. That is a whole other story and I'm afraid we do not have time to talk about this today, but perhaps your niece could shed more light on that matter."

"What did you and Elena talk about last night?"

Before Esther could answer, Jenna's cell phone lit up and started to play her currently favorite song. She fished it out of her jacket pocket and glanced at the caller ID.

"Go ahead, it might be important," Esther said.

Jenna answered the call and talked to Elena for a couple of minutes. Apparently her niece has been looking for her. She promised she'd be home as soon as possible and hung up.

"I should go now," Jenna sat and stood up.

"Yes, it has been a lot to take in for one day, but I'm sure you'll be fine. Ignorance is not always bliss, you know," Esther smiled and tilted her head to one side, thinking about something. "You know, I might not know what triggered your state, but maybe you do. I sense there is still some compulsion in place."

"What are you talking about?" Jenna asked, slightly worried about what that meant.

Esther advanced on Jenna and threw her hands up. As a result Jenna clutched her head and let out a scream. It felt like her brain was getting a scrub down. As suddenly as the pain had started, it also ended.

"There, now you are once again free of all compulsion. The suppressed memories will return to you in no time and maybe you'll figure out what really happened to you. I hope to see you again, Jenna."

Finn gently took Jenna by the arm and led her out of the room. She was still trying to get her orientation back and simply followed along. He brought her outside to her car and opened the door for her.

"Do you think you will be alright to drive?" Finn asked.

"I think so. I have a lot to think about now," Jenna answered and studied Finn's face again. It was the same handsome face she had met yesterday. Nothing about him seemed monstrous or threatening at all and yet she remembered what she had seen earlier.

Finn smiled down at her, "Well, then you'd better be on your way. You niece is waiting and I'm sure the two of you have a lot to discuss."

Jenna nodded and got into her car. Finn watched her drive away. She wasn't a witch, that much he was sure about. He wondered what it was about Jenna that made her aware of the supernatural around her and at the same time kept her so confused.

Finn walked back to the house. Surely his siblings had questions about what was going on, not that he would be giving them any answers of course.

 **xxxxx**

On her drive back Jenna gradually remembered bits and pieces from the past months. In a weird way some things actually started to make sense and that frightened Jenna more than thinking she was going crazy.

She had gone to Esther to get answers, and while she had gotten some, she wasn't really any further than before. Jenna still had no answer to what was happening to her or what the hell was going on in general. All she knew now was that apparently witches and vampires really do exist and they came to live in Mystic Falls. Also, someone had been screwing with her head and Jenna didn't like that one bit.

As soon as she was through the door, Elena came running out from the living room. "Oh good, you're back. We need to talk and it's going to sound crazy, but I need you to keep an open mind and hear me out."

Jenna just stared at her niece, not sure what to believe anymore. What was real, what was imagination. It all seemed blurred together. Jenna needed to get some order into her thoughts again. She tried listening to Elena, but she was rushing her words out and Jenna couldn't really follow what she was saying.

"How are you still alive?" Jenna interrupted her niece midsentence and watch for a reaction.

Elena stopped rambling and stared at her aunt, "What do you mean?"

"I said, how are you still alive even though Niklaus Mikaelson killed you?"

Elena blinked, suddenly not having any words left. Jenna pressed her lips together and waited for an answer. When she realized she wasn't getting one, she started walking towards the kitchen. "Come on, if we're going to have the kind of conversation I think we're about to have, I'm going to need alcohol for this. Lots and lots of alcohol."


	4. Long Night

**4**

"Vampires, werewolves, hybrids, witches...what's next?" Jenna wanted to laugh, but it was no longer funny. She downed the last of her wine and reached for the bottle to refill her glass. "You're sure you don't want any? It's okay."

Elena shook her head, but grabbed the bottle and stopped her aunt from pouring another glass. "Maybe you should slow down a bit."

Jenna raised her eyebrows, "Really? I think I'll need a lot more because something tells me we're not finished, are we?"

Elena sighed and let go of the bottle. Jenna was right, there were a few more things to cover. Another glass might just help her take it in without falling into a panic. So far they had covered how Elena found out about Mystic Falls' darker side, Elena had explained about Stefan and Damon being vampires, about the Originals and their mother as well as a few other things.

"What about Katherine Pierce? Where is she now?" Jenna asked next.

Elena was surprised by the question. She had not planned on bringing her up. "You know about her?"

"Oh yes, I remember now. She's the one who had made me her little spy and got me to stab myself. She also looked disturbingly like you, except I know it wasn't you."

"We're both doppelgangers, that's why we look the same. An ancestor of ours was used in the ritual to create the vampire race. It's complicated and not important right now. Katherine is gone. Damon is sure that there is no way she'll set foot back into Mystic Falls as long as Klaus is here. He wants her dead."

That was the first good thing Jenna had heard all afternoon. She took another sip of her wine and tried to decide on what she should ask next. There were still so many things she was unclear about. "You never answered my question about how it is that you're still alive."

"And I'm still wondering how you even know about that," Elena said. "But I guess I'll start. You were right Klaus killed me and two others in order to break the curse that kept him from being a hybrid. Of course we had tried to stop him, but..." Elena trailed off for a moment. This was not her favorite memory to revisit.

"I really can't explain it all, but in the end John gave his life in order to save mine."

Jenna just stared at her niece. John Gilbert actually sacrificed himself to save his daughter. Well, now she was kind of feeling bad for all the curses she had wished on him when he was still alive. At least Jenna's feeling about his supposed heart attack was correct. They had lied about that.

"Your turn," Elena said and leaned back on her chair.

Jenna took another sip before she started, "Over the past couple of month strange things have been happening. I hear things no one else does, I sometimes think I see something that isn't really there, you know, stuff like that. I thought I was going crazy, to be honest, but now I'm thinking maybe not so much."

Elena wanted to say something, but Jenna stopped her, "Before you ask, no, I don't know why or how. I also sometimes have dreams and I thought that was all they were, but the one I had about you dying...it had felt so real. As if I had been there right with you."

Silence fell between the two women and they both took a moment to think about what each of them have been told. Jenna decided that she was keeping the fact that she found Mason's body in the woods to herself for now.

"Anyway, you were still alive the next day, so I figured it was only a really bad dream. Esther said something about me being sensitive to the supernatural, but I don't really understand what she means by that."

Elena perked up at that last bit of information, "You've talked to Esther?"

"This morning, yes, I went to see her," Jenna admitted. Now came the part of the conversation she was least excited about, not that she was really particularly happy about any of it. "I wanted some answers and I thought I would get them from her, because she was the one who got out of the coffin that I opened somehow. It seemed like a good idea."

Elena's eyes widened, "You're the one who opened the coffin? How?"

"I don't know. It's like I told you, I hear stuff and something led me to that cave. It's not like I wanted to do it, I just...I can't explain, Elena."

Jenna was at a loss. While some things have started to make sense, there was still so much she could not explain or even put into the right words. Elena moved her chair closer to her aunt and put her arm around her.

"We will figure this out together, okay? We just need to keep each other informed from now on."

Jenna smiled at her niece and nodded, "Sounds like a plan."

Elena's phone rang and she answered it. It was Bonnie telling her that whatever Esther had planned, it was going down tomorrow, the night of the full moon. Bonnie and her mother were on their way now to meet with Esther.

"What's going on?" Jenna asked.

"I told you about Klaus and the rest of his siblings and that Esther wants to undo the evil she created. Well, apparently she's a fast worker, because it's happening tomorrow night."

Jenna didn't know how she felt about that. She couldn't quite wrap her head around the fact that Esther wants to kill her children. Sure, she was the one who created vampires, which still sounded crazy to Jenna, but to kill her own family that was cold. She had met Elijah and Finn. They hadn't seemed evil or murderous.

"And you're okay with that?" Jenna asked.

"From where I'm standing it's like this, Klaus killed me and countless others, Elijah betrayed us. As long as they are around people will keep dying and I don't want to lose any more people I care about," Elena explained.

Jenna could see Elena's point, but she wasn't exactly convinced that this was the right way to go about this. Something didn't sit well with her and it wasn't just the fact that a mother was going to murder her children.

 **xxxxx**

The next morning Jenna stood in front of a picture of Elena and Jeremy hanging on the wall. She was still dressed in her pajama shorts and T-shirt. She had slept in this morning, since for the first time in a week she had gotten a good night's sleep.

Ever since Esther had lifted all off the remaining compulsion, and Jenna finally understood what that meant, she was remembering more things. Most of them were little details that came back to her when she saw something that had a connection with whatever she was made to forget.

Looking at the picture, Jenna wondered for the first time in a while where the hell Jeremy was. Damon was the one who had compelled her to believe that he was going to stay with relatives and that she didn't have to worry about it. She made a mental note to ask Elena about that once she was back from school.

"Let go of me!"

Jenna heard Elena's voice coming from downstairs. Moments later the front door fell shut. Without thinking Jenna ran down the stairs and stopped short when she saw her niece rubbing her arm and Elijah standing beside her.

"What's going on here?" Jenna asked and walked over to Elena, making sure she was alright.

"I apologize for the intrusion, but I just had to have a little chat with your niece here." Elijah didn't waste any time and got straight to the point. "I want to know what my mother is planning."

"I told you, she has nothing planned."

"I can hear your heart beating faster. You are lying, Elena, and I really don't have the patience for this," Elijah explained, but remained calm. "I had my suspicions, of course, and then your aunt showed up at our home yesterday morning. Very curious..."

Elijah turned to Jenna, who took a step back, she didn't know what to do. She was not ready to see her first, and possibly last, vampire attack happening.

"The last time I was here I was quite sure you didn't know about vampires. What changed? How did you free my mother from her coffin?" Elijah asked.

Jenna opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She tried again, but she really had no idea what so say. Elijah smiled at her, "That's okay, we have more pressing matters to attend to right now. We'll come back to that later."

Elena gave Elijah a guilty look, "You have to understand, we were lead to believe that whatever was in that coffin could help us kill Klaus. We didn't know it would be your mother. She used my blood, put in the champagne and bound all of you together."

 _That's why it tasted weird_ , Jenna thought, but kept her mouth shut.

Elijah sighed, "She wants to kill us all, doesn't she."

Jenna noticed it wasn't phrased like a question. This was probably the worst case scenario for him, but Jenna figured he had already expected to hear something along those lines.

When Elijah asked Elena when it was supposed to happen, she answered him right away. It was happening tonight, but she didn't know where Bonnie, her mother or Esther were.

"Alright, there is no time to be wasted then," Elijah said and walked back to the front door. Jenna almost thought we was going to leave, but when he opened the door a young, blonde girl stood on the other side. "If either of you would be so nice as to invite my sister in."

"Don't!" Elena held up her hand to stop Jenna from saying anything. "Do not invite her in."

"Or I could just kill one of you to demonstrate what will happen if the other won't invite her in."

"You won't do that," Elena sounded confident about that, but Jenna wasn't so sure.

Elijah's voice became harder, "Elena, I think we'll both know how this will go. You can't kill me, you can't outrun me either. We can make a whole thing out of this, but the end result will not change."

"Come in," Jenna said, cutting this whole charade short. Elena threw her a look like she was crazy, but Jenna had had enough of this nonsense.

"Finally," Rebekah said and stepped over the threshold.

Elijah nodded a thank you towards Jenna, then addressed his sister, "You will keep an eye on them, you will not hurt them. Understood?"

Rebekah rolled her eyes, but agreed to keep them both alive. Jenna blinked and Elijah was gone. "Where is he going now?"

"He'll find a way to stop our mother from killing us all, but you don't have to worry about that," Rebekah explained and closed the front door.

"Why are you here then? Don't you want to help?" Elena asked.

"We're the leverage," Jenna said, even she understood that much.

Rebekah smiled at Jenna, "I like you, maybe you'll live through it after all."

Suddenly Jenna had a really bad feeling about this.

 **xxxxx**

It's been hours since Jenna and Elena had been taken hostage by Rebekah. The sun was starting to set outside. The afternoon had been filled with forced and awkward conversation. Occasionally Rebekah and Elena had a shouting match with each other about things that Jenna didn't understand. Something about Elena having stabbed Rebekah in the back, literally. Jenna had to go between them more than once and calm everyone down again.

"The two of you are giving me a headache," Jenna said and sat down on the couch. "How much longer is this going to take?"

Rebekah shrugged, "Until my brother calls and tells me that it's over, none of you are going anywhere. You better start hoping that your precious Salvatores can save the day or I'll have to kill you."

"If they don't, you'll die with us," Elena said, crossing her arms in front of her chest and sitting down beside her aunt on the couch.

Rebekah said nothing, but Jenna could tell she was trying very hard not to go straight for Elena's throat. It was going to be a long night.

It was past ten at night and Elijah still hadn't given the all-clear. Rebekah tried not to show it, but she was getting more anxious, which was understandable. Elena had stopped trying to reason with Rebekah, that was also progress. At least it brought some quiet to the place.

"Why did you free my mother?" Rebekah looked up from her magazine and Jenna figured the question was directed at her.

"I didn't mean to. I know, sounds stupid, but the truth is I don't know how I did it. I certainly hadn't planned on it," Jenna tried to explain, but she still had no explanation for what had happened in that cave.

"My brother does not know if you're a thread or not. He can't decide if you're working with our mother or not."

"Definitely not," Jenna said. She figured that was the right answer, also the truth. "The thing is, I'm not sure what is happening to me."

Rebekah seemed take Jenna's word for it and went back to flipping through the magazine.

 **xxxxx**

Finn had finished lightening all five points of the pentagram. All preparations had been made. Now all they had left to do was to wait for the full moon to be at its highest point.

"Are you sure it is wise to let the witches out of our sight," Finn asked his mother.

"It's better if they are somewhere safe. As long as they're alive and well, everything will be alright," Esther explained. She didn't have quite as many worries about tonight as her son. "Are you still willing to go through with it?"

"I will do whatever it takes, mother, you know that."

Esther smiled at her son, but thought he sounded not as positive as before. She figured it was only natural since he was going to let her kill him in order to kill all his siblings as well. After tonight she will finally be able to rest in peace herself, knowing that she will have erased the evil she had unleashed into the world a thousand years ago.

 **xxxxx**

It was close to midnight now. They had only a few more minutes left before the full moon would be at his highest point. Rebekah was pacing up and down the living room. Elena had curled up in the armchair and kept glancing at the watch.

Jenna closed her eyes for a moment. It was late and she was tired. She was getting nervous, too. Rebekah had made it clear that none of them were going to live if Stefan and Damon failed. How she was not freaking out, was beyond her. She felt like she should be. It had been a few interesting past days. She had learned that vampires and witches existed and somehow got caught up in the middle of their problems.

Oddly, she wasn't worried about dying tonight. She had had a really bad feeling all night long and the later it got, the worse the feeling. Her gut told her something was about to happen, but somehow she knew that it wasn't the three of them here who needed to be concerned about that. But who then? It's like it was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't quite get it.

 **xxxxx**

Meanwhile Stefan and Damon have arrived at the old witch house. They had been tasked by Elijah to find Bonnie and her mother and to break the connection between them and Esther. The Original had made it clear that if they failed, Elena and Jenna would die. No matter how much they wanted the Originals gone, they couldn't let that happen.

They had both snuck up behind the house and waited for their opportunity. When Bonnie went into another room, the brothers separated and each one of them followed one of the witches.

"Hello Bonnie," Stefan said and Bonnie spun around.

"Stefan, you scared me. What are you doing here?"

"We need the stop the ritual. Elena and Jenna are in danger and if we don't stop Esther they will both die," Stefan explained. He didn't really believe he could convince Bonnie of their plan. All he needed was to keep her away from her mother for a little while longer.

"There's no way to stop it now," Bonnie said. A shiver ran down her spine. The look on Stefan's face told her that there was something he was not telling. She had to get back to her mother.

Stefan was faster and blocked her way, "I'm sorry, Bonnie, I really am, but the only way to stop it now is to break the connection and fast."

"You can't do that. Esther is drawing from my family's line. She's using our magic," Bonnie tried to explain.

"I know..." Stefan didn't need to finish his next sentence. Bonnie understood what he was getting at and tried pushing past him again.

"No, please, you can't do that."

"It's too late."

 **xxxxx**

Jenna jolted into an upright position on the couch and started to scream. The same kind of scream that had happened after she had dream witnessed Elena's death.

Rebekah covered her ears. The scream was more like a screech and it hurt her ears. Elena scrunched up her face, but it didn't hurt her human ears quite as much.

After Jenna ran out of air, she fell silent again. She slumped back into the couch and took a few deep breaths.

"Jenna, are you alright?" Elena asked concerned and knelt down beside her aunt.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Rebekah asked and stared at Jenna, slowly uncovering her ears again.

Jenna turned to the two girl and tried to slow her breathing down. She was really starting to hate this feeling. Except this time, she knew exactly what it meant. "She's dead."

"My mother?" Rebekah asked.

"No, not your mother."

Jenna gave Elena a meaningful look. After a moment Elena grasped the meaning and her face showed her immediate grief. It had been Bonnie's mother who should have been concerned about not making it through the night.


	5. The Necklace

**5**

Jenna poured herself a coffee and turned on the news. She tried focusing on the reporter, but her mind kept wandering.

It's been a week since Esther had fled town after her failed attempt to murder her children. There was no sign of Finn either. Elena and Jenna have mostly avoided talking about that night. Instead they had moved forward, bringing Jenna up to speed on everything that has been going on over the past year in Mystic Falls. It sounded like a fairytale gone wrong to Jenna, but she figured it wasn't any weirder than what she had been through lately.

The door bell broke Jenna out of her thoughts and she moved towards the door. She immediately regretted that when she saw who was standing on the other side of the door.

"Why are you here?"

"I came to talk to you," Rebekah answered and was about to enter when Jenna stepped in front of her, blocking her way.

"You realize that me knocking is nothing more than a courtesy, right?" Rebekah smiled sweetly, but Jenna got the message. She stepped aside and let Rebekah enter the house.

Wondering what brought her here, Jenna followed her into the kitchen. The blonde Vampire did not lose any time with small talk and got straight to the point, after she pulled a piece of jewelry from her jacket pocket.

„This is my mother's necklace, a talisman. You might have seen your niece wear it before. I need you to find my mother, because she needs to be stopped before she kills us all."

„I don't know how to find her."

Rebekah smiled patiently at Jenna and continued, „Like I said, this belonged to my mother first. It is connected to her, you can use it to find her."

Jenna didn't understand what Rebekah was expecting her to do, „How?"

Rebekah shrugged, „I don't know how, that's your part. Take it, focus on it, call upon whatever it is that makes you know things. I don't care about the how, all I'm interested in is the result."

Jenna rolled her eyes, „I'm not psychic."

Rebekah shoved the necklace into Jenna's hand, „Just take the damn thing and do something."

Rebekah was getting impatient and Jenna figured that was dangerous. She sighed and looked at the necklace, turning it over in her hand. „Why do you think I can find your mother?"

Rebekah took a seat at the table and launched into a story about her childhood, „When I was growing up there was this woman in our village and she had a connection to death of sorts. I don't really know how it worked, but she too screamed sometimes when people died. She knew things, heard them. We children feared her. Of course, Kol would always dare us to go and sneak into her house at night. He liked to pretend he wasn't scared."

Rebekah smiled at the memories, then remembered why she was telling Jenna this, "Anyway, the way you screamed the other night, that had reminded me of her. You knew something bad was going to happen and then it did."

„I also told you that I do not know what is happening to me. I can't control it," Jenna said. „And I still don't see how that helps me find your mother. Even if it were true and I can predict death, which is what you're getting at I think, how would that help? Esther is not about to die."

Rebekah had become slightly teary eyed at this point and stood back up, „No, but my family is about to. I will be dead, Jenna. I don't want to die like this, not before I get to finally live."

Jenna had to admit that she was a little touched by the emotional outburst. Rebekah clearly meant her words and it even made her a little bit more human in Jenna's eyes. There was just nothing she could do. Not to forget it also put her in an awkward situation. Her niece and the rest of the gang are trying to kill the Originals, while they're trying everything not to get killed.

Of course, Jenna wanted her niece and the town to be safe from the centuries old vampires, but it still felt wrong to her. Something about Esther's plan to kill her children didn't add up, but Jenna couldn't say what it was. It was very frustrating.

However, she opted for not telling Rebekah any of that, "I'll try, alright? Give me some time, maybe I can figure it out. Just don't kill me if I can't."

Rebekah laughed at that last part and nodded. "Thank you. If you'll excuse me now, I have to help one brother capture another brother."

Jenna didn't even ask. She got the impression that the Mikaelson family is a real life equivalent of a dramatic soap opera, except with fangs.

Looking at the necklace in her hand, Jenna sighed. What in the world was she supposed to do now?

 **xxxxxx**

In the spirit of not keeping anything from each other any longer, everyone currently involved in what was going on in Mystic Falls supernatural wise has met up at the Boarding House. The only exception was Bonnie.

Jenna had learned that she had been right and wrong about the death of Bonnie's mother. Yes, she had died, but no, she was not entirely dead. Damon had turned her into a vampire to break the connection Esther had to the Bennett witches. Obviously, neither she nor Bonnie were particularly happy about the situation and had a lot of things to work through.

Jenna couldn't imagine what that must be like. Before she could think too much about it, her mind was pulled back to reality when Stefan started handing out stakes. It was their current plan to get rid of the Originals for good. After they had located the white oak in form of a town sign, they had made twelve stakes out of it. That meant twelve potential chances to kill the Originals.

"Everyone gets one of these." Alaric said and threw a stake over to Caroline who caught it easily. "They are, as we know, the only thing that will kill an Original."

"Other than Esther, but we can't exactly count on her right now since we don't even know where the witch is hiding," Damon added.

"If you get a chance, don't hesitate, but be smart about it. They are Originals after all." Alaric cautioned everyone about not doing it on their own. He suggested always going out in groups and always letting someone know where you were going.

Jenna looked at the stake in her hand. She didn't really see how she could ever stake someone. Not because the stake itself felt much heavier than she would have expected in her hand, more because she couldn't imagine herself staking anyone in the heart with it, vampire or not. She wasn't a killer and she didn't want to become one either.

"Is there anything else that needs to be discussed? Because I have to be at the school soon." Alaric looked around the group of people sitting in front of him. When his eyes came to rest on Jenna, he thought she looked worried.

"Jenna, everything alright?"

Jenna looked up, then noticed everyone looking at her. "Sure, I just don't think that I'd be any good with staking anyone. I don't really want to, to be honest."

"It probably won't even come to that." Elena tried to assure her aunt. Stefan and Caroline agreed with her. Matt and Tyler nodded along dutifully.

Jenna thought it was sweet that they were trying to reassure her. That's why she decided it would be unfair to keep Rebekah's little visit to herself.

"There is something else," Jenna admitted and pulled the necklace she had received from Rebekah earlier from her pocket.

"Where did you get that?" Elena asked first, immediately being reminded of the moment Stefan had given it to her.

"Rebekah came by the house this morning and gave it to me. She thinks that it will help me locate Esther."

By now everyone knew about what was happening with Jenna, even though no one really knew what it meant. Even Stefan and Damon, who were the oldest of the group, didn't know what to make of it. Of course, that hadn't stopped Damon from making jokes about it.

"You are not actually helping Rebekah find Esther, are you?" Caroline asked.

Jenna shrugged, "What was I supposed to say? Rebekah doesn't strike me as the most patient person. Besides, I don't know how to find Esther."

Damon narrowed his eyes, "Why do I get the feeling that you would tell them where she is if you did."

Jenna stared right back at Damon, not backing down, "Maybe I would. Something's not right. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not true."

"What, are your Spidey senses tingling?"

Jenna was about to say something, but Stefan interrupted and tried to defuse the situation, "Finding Esther is probably a good thing, Damon. We need her help. Telling the Originals where she is not so much. You understand that, right Jenna?"

Jenna took a deep breath and nodded, keeping her mouth shut. She already regretted having brought up the topic. They couldn't understand, because they didn't go through what Jenna had been through the past months. She was starting to trust her feelings, intuitions or whatever you wanted to call it. There was more to this and she was going to find out what it was.

"If this is all, I'll be leaving now." Jenna stood up and left the room without saying goodbye, stake in one hand, necklace in the other. When she was almost to the door, Alaric caught up with her. "Hey, everything alright?"

Jenna opened the door and stepped outside, still aware that the vampires in the house could hear her if they wanted to, "Yes, no, nothing has been alright for months, okay."

Jenna took a deep breath and tried to keep it together. This was not the time nor the place to have a meltdown. "I'm okay, really. A lot has happened and I guess I just need a little more time to adjust."

Alaric looked doubtful, but took her word for it for now. "I know we haven't really talked in a while…"

Jenna nodded and found the floor suddenly a lot more interesting. Ever since the whole Isabelle fiasco, things had never gotten back to normal between the two. Jenna had felt betrayed by Alaric, as well as Elena, but it had been easier forgiving her than him.

Jenna had been so mad and, yes, she knew now that Isabelle had also been a vampire, but it didn't change anything. They had still both lied to her and that had hurt.

"Honestly, I have a lot of things to deal with and figure out and I can't deal with this now." Jenna sighed, "Also, I have a town meeting to get to."

Alaric nodded, "Okay, I get it."

He stepped aside and let her pass. Having a talk with her ex-boyfriend about their failed relationship was not on Jenna's to-do-list today.

 **xxxxxx**

Jenna was about to fall asleep. She sat in the town meeting listening to Carol Lockwood go on and on about a fundraiser or two, the next Miss Mystic Falls competition and so many other things, Jenna wasn't sure if Carol had even stopped to take a breath yet.

 _Thank you, Miranda, for leaving me stuck here with these boring people_.

She couldn't imagine how her sister had been able to endure this. Then again, Miranda had been so much better at this than Jenna could ever be. All these small-town politics weren't her thing.

Jenna's mind was still on the whole situation with the Originals, Esther, Rebekah and the necklace. She kept rolling the necklace between her fingers, playing around with it. Jenna had put it on this morning, thinking maybe it would eventually make her see or hear something strange. Jenna tried not to smile at the thought of her actually wishing something strange would happen.

She pretended to take notes, but was only doodling on the paper in front of her, as Carol changed the subject once again. Now she was talking about the preservation of an old bridge around here somewhere. Apparently, it needed a new sign because the old one had been stolen.

 _Wonder where that went_.

Jenna rolled her eyes and thought of the stake safely tucked away in her bedroom. If these people only knew half the truth…

Another twenty minutes later, the meeting was finally over. Jenna sat back up straight and stretched her body. That was an hour and a half she wasn't ever going to get back.

Everyone was leaving and Jenna was about to put away the paper in front of her before Carol saw it, when she looked at it and realized what she had been drawing. It looked like a house, but smaller. There was something written over the entrance that she didn't understand. Was that Latin or just gibberish? And what about the symbol in the corner of the page? Jenna thought she had seen it before.

 _This is strange. Why did I draw this…so specific._

Jenna stared at the paper for another moment before she put it into her bag and left the Lockwood residence.


	6. Finding Esther

**6**

Finn met the ground hard when Klaus threw him into the basement. Solid walls, no windows and only one door in and out. Rebekah followed closely behind. It had taken both of them to capture Finn and bring him back to Mystic Falls. As expected, he was not being very cooperative.

The older Mikaelson picked himself up off the ground. "You can't keep me in here forever."

"I believe I can, actually." Klaus smirked at his older brother.

Finn rolled his eyes, "Sure, dagger me again. It's all you know how to do. God forbid, you deal with your unpleasant reality. I will get out of here and then I will help our mother end our horrible existence."

"See, if you keep talking like that I might just really have to dagger you." Klaus said.

Rebekah leaned against the door frame, looking bored. "As much as I'm loving this, I'll see if Jenna has found our mother yet. The sooner this is over, the better."

Finn looked at his sister, wondering how she knew about Jenna and if Jenna could really find Esther. His mother had asked him to keep an eye on her because she could potentially be useful again. That usefulness could now turn against them, it seems.

He silently cursed himself for having forgotten about Jenna. After the ritual had failed his first instinct had been to get his mother to safety. Afterwards he had disappeared also. He should have first taken care of Jenna.

"I see I have said something interesting," Rebekah smiled. "I remember you dancing with her at the ball. She is something, huh? Haven't seen someone like her in a very long time."

"What is it I'm missing about Jenna Sommers?" Klaus asked. He was confused about what exactly it was that made her special. His sister had mentioned visiting her and asking her to find their mother, but he had had other problems to deal with so he hadn't really asked more about it.

Rebekah laughed, "Remember that scary woman that lived in our village, the one we were all afraid of? I don't know what you call someone like that, but Jenna is just like her."

It took Klaus a moment to remember what Rebekah was talking about, but when he did a smile spread across his face. "Yes, she was a scary old woman, wasn't she?"

Finn snorted, "Jenna has no idea about what she is or what she can do. You really think she can find our mother, a thousand-year-old witch who doesn't want to be found? I don't think so."

Rebekah shrugged, "I guess we'll find out."

Klaus and Rebekah left the basement and let the door fall shut behind them. A loud bang let Finn know that the bold slit into place. No doubt Finn wouldn't, not even with his vampire strength, be able to get out that door. His brother would not make it that easy for him. Probably had some nasty surprises up his sleeve if he tried.

Finn sighed and tried to get comfortable on the floor. He closed his eyes and tried to drown out his surroundings. Looks like he wasn't going anywhere for a while, but he was used to that.

 **xxxxxx**

Jenna was still wondering about her drawing from the other day. She hadn't thought about anything specific, other than how bored she was from listen to Carol go on and on about trivial matters. It seemed her fingers had had a mind of their own.

"This is ridiculous."

Staring at the piece of paper wasn't getting her anywhere, so Jenna decided to keep her mind off of it for a while and stowed it away in her desk drawer. She ran her errands for the day, made herself lunch and called Jeremy again. Elena had finally explained to her why Jeremy wasn't around. He was staying with family friends to keep him safe. Damon had compelled him after Jeremy had beheaded a vampire with their meat cleaver. Jenna made a mental note to get rid of that cleaver.

Afterwards Jenna worked out and then took a shower. When she was getting dressed again, she put her shirt over her head and smoothed it down her sides. She grabbed for Esther's necklace and pulled it out from underneath the shirt.

Again, she thought about how pretty the design on the locket was and that's when it struck her. This is the same design she drew on the piece of paper.

Jenna opened her desk drawer and pulled the drawing out from it. The symbol she had drawn had looked familiar. She mentally head slapped herself for not having seen it before.

"This must be where Esther is hiding," Jenna voiced her thoughts out loud. "If I only knew where that is."

The doorbell rang and Jenna made her way downstairs. When she opened the door to find Rebekah standing on the other side of it, it felt like déjà vu.

"Made any progress yet?" Rebekah asked and smiled. She showed up without calling ahead because she rather enjoyed people's reactions to her unexpected appearance. This was no exception.

The sound escaping Jenna's mouth was a cross between a snort and a laugh, "You have impeccable timing, you know that?"

 **xxxxxx**

On the entire ride to the Mikaelson's home Jenna had been lost in her thoughts. She even ran a red light without noticing.

"You know, a car crash is only going to get you hurt, not me," Rebekah said.

"What?"

"That light back there was red. I'm pretty sure you were supposed to stop the car."

Jenna quickly glanced back, then focused on the street ahead of her again. "Didn't see that."

"I noticed. Where's your head at?"

Jenna bit her lip. Truth be told she started to feel a little bad about what she was doing right now. She should probably have told Elena what was going on and where she was going, but she also had a feeling that none of them would understand.

Jenna was still set on finding out what Esther's plan really was. If only she wouldn't feel so guilty. She had been angry with Elena and Alaric for keeping the truth from her, now she was keeping something from them. Although, she had brought her concerns up before. It was the rest of the gang who didn't take her seriously.

"I'm not so sure if I'm still doing the right thing, I guess."

"Oh, don't start. It's too late," Rebekah rolled her eyes then smiled sweetly. "Besides, it's always better to be on my side."

Jenna sighed. Rebekah was right and Jenna knew that the vampire would never let her get away now. She would just have to see it through and hope she was right about this.

 **xxxxxx**

Rebekah pushed the front door open and led Jenna straight into the living room, where Klaus was already waiting for them.

"I see you brought your new friend," Klaus smiled and offered Jenna a seat. "I take it this means good news, yes?"

Rebekah grinned at her brother, "Has Finn given up mother yet?"

Klaus gave his sister a look that told her exactly how frustrated he was with his older brother, "Of course not. Mommy's little boy remains loyal to the end."

Rebekah nodded, "Good thing I have found a solution for our problem then. Show him the drawing, Jenna."

Klaus took the piece of paper from Jenna and examined it closely. He thought he recognized the little house. Memories came rushing back of him and his siblings. Would it still be there after all this time?

"You drew this?" Klaus asked Jenna and looked her over. He had not wasted a lot of thought on her up to this point. She hadn't seemed like a threat and therefore could be ignored in his mind.

Rebekah sat down beside Jenna. "She thinks that is where mother is hiding."

Suddenly all eyes were on Jenna and she felt slightly uncomfortable, "Yes, but I don't know where it is or if your mother is actually there."

"Don't sell yourself short, Jenna. I sure don't understand how you do it, but this is brilliant." Jenna wished she had half of Rebekah's faith in her abilities.

"Have you ever been to this place before? Seen the house maybe?" Klaus asked, still a bit skeptical. He couldn't be sure that this wasn't a set up of some kind. Maybe Jenna was working with Esther. Maybe this was part of a plan to lure them out there.

Jenna shook her head, "No, like I said, I don't know where it is. I assume it has to do with Esther because of the symbol in the corner. It's the same as on the necklace Rebekah had given me."

Klaus thought about it all for a moment. It seemed so random that Jenna woud draw this place, but it was a lead and they couldn't ignore it. "Alright, let's see if she's there."

Rebekah and Jenna got up, ready to follow Klaus, but he stopped them both. He pointed at his finger at Jenna, "Not you."

"Nik, she's alright. She's helping us." Rebekah protested, but Klaus shook his head.

"You'll be waiting here. In fact, why don't you keep my brother some company."

Before Jenna knew what was happening, Klaus had grabbed her and in a blink of an eye she was stumbling into the basment, the door locking firmly behind her.

"That was entirely unneccessary," Rebekah said as she followed her brother ot the house.

"It's a precaution. You, dear sister, are entirely too trusting."

"In comparison to you who doesn't trust anyone?"

Klaus didn't answer, instead he pulled out his phone and started to dial Elijah. He told him where to meet and to bring Kol. If this turned out to be true, they were going to need everyone there.


	7. Killing Esther

**7**

Jenna was hammering against the door and shouted as loud as she could, but she got no answer.

This is what you get for trying to help, Jenna thought and tried to push the door open. Of course it was pointless, but she couldn't just do nothing.

"Could you maybe stop being so loud. I'm trying to rest here."

Jenna spun around and pressed her back against the door. Her heart was racing inside of her chest. She looked around the basement. It took a while until her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the basement. There was only a faint light somewhere in the back.

Slowly she begun to see an outline of someone sitting on the floor. It took her another moment until she recognized the figure as Finn Mikaelson.

"You scared me."

"I can see that." Finn looked amused for a moment, then let his head rest back against the wall and closed his eyes again.

Jenna stood there, not knowing what to do. Different possibilities entered her mind as to why Klaus had locked her in here. The most terrifying was her being his brother's dinner.

After a few more minutes of silence, she slowly inched closer into the room. She used her hand on the wall so she would know where to go and hoped she wouldn't trip over something. They really could have turned a light on down here.

"Isn't there a light switch anywhere?"

"I have no trouble seeing."

Of course not, Jenna thought.

"I suppose Klaus was the one who locked you in here? I get the feeling that he doesn't trust people much."

"You're just going to keep on talking, aren't you?" Finn sounded slightly annoyed, but he sat up straighter. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to have a conversation with Miss Sommers. It's not like he had anything else to do.

"I'm afraid my brother doesn't like me much. He's rather used to everyone doing what _he_ wants. Everyone who goes against him ends up daggered in a coffin."

"Like your mother?" Jenna asked.

"Not exactly. He had killed her, but her body had been preserved. Klaus is terrified of our mother's revenge. She said she'd forgiven him and I really think she has, but it won't change her ending our horrible existence once and for all."

"And you're okay with that? You'll be dead, too."

"I've been dead for a long time now. No real difference."

Jenna frowned, "More like undead. I mean you're still alive in a way. You just want it to end?"

Finn's voice rose, "What life do I have? For the past 900 years my brother has kept me in a coffin, surrounded by darkness and nothing but my own taunting thoughts to keep me company. How am I not supposed to go mad like that? At least I won't have to be a monster anymore."

Mad enough to want to die and take everyone with him, Jenna thought.

"But you're free now. Once you're out of this basement, why not just go away and start over? Forget about your siblings, about Klaus." Jenna wondered out loud. She couldn't quite understand the obsession he had with ending it all.

"And you really think they would let me?" Finn snorted, it was a ridiculous idea.

"They are on their way to find your mother now. I don't think they'll be able to change her mind, right? They will kill her probably and then it's over. Maybe you should think about what comes after."

Finn didn't say anything. He looked at Jenna and tried to figure out where she came from, how she fits into this all. The plan had been a solid one. His mother shouldn't have involved Jenna in this. The Bennett witches would eventually have succeeded in opening the coffin. But she was a part of it now, an unpredictable part.

"That means you found her then."

Jenna shrugged, "I found...something. If your mother is really at that place remains to be seen."

"I see."

Finn nodded to himself and closed his eyes again. If they found mother, then he really might have to think about what comes after. She might be able to fend one or two of them of, but all of them at once was unlikely.

Maybe she could get a lucky shot in, kill one of them somehow. They were all still linked together. All it took was one lucky shot.

But even as he thought it, Finn knew it wasn't going to happen.

 **xxxxxx**

Jenna had no idea how much time had passed, silently cursing herself for forgetting her phone at home. Rebekah had insisted they leave immediately and had given Jenna no time to grab anything, except her car keys.

Good thing I'm not scared of darkness, Jenna sighed and started tapping her foot on the floor. Someone should have noticed her absence by now, right? Hopefully someone would come looking for her.

"Nervous?" Finn asked and glared at Jenna, not that she could actually see that in the dark. "Scared I might make you into my next meal?"

Jenna stopped her tapping, "No."

Finn smiled to himself, that hadn't sounded very convincing. "Don't worry, I don't drink human blood, at least not from the source. Not if I can help it."

"Why not?"

"I despise being a monster. I don't want to kill people in order to survive."

Jenna really didn't understand Finn. He seemed to have contradicting views on life and death. He doesn't want to kill people, but he's fine with killing his family. Jenna wondered what made him like that. There must be more to the story than 'Mommy turned me into a vampire'.

"What it's like being daggered?" The question was out of her mouth before Jenna really thought about it. Maybe she was a little nervous, she just kept on talking when she should be silent.

Finn didn't answer right away. Eventually he sighed and said, "It's dark and lonely and..."

Finn stopped in the middle of his sentence and listened closer to what was going on behind the basment door. He heard footsteps coming closer. The faint voices weren't the ones of any of his siblings, though.

Finn grinned suddenly and pulled Jenna up with him without effort. He held her tight against him with his left arm while he used his right hand to cover her mouth.

"Looks like were about to get out of here," Finn whispered and waited.

Jenna couldn't move. She only heard now what Finn had heard long before her. Someone was on the other side of the door. With a screeching sound the bold on the other side of the door slid out of place.

As the door opened, light filled the basement and Jenna screwed her eyes shut. She blinked a few times to get used to the light. Through teary eyes she saw two people standing opposite her.

"Let her go!"

Jenna felt relieved when she heard Stefan's voice. Elena stood slightly behind him.

"I will as soon as you step away from the door," Finn said.

After noone moved, Finn added, "I have no interest in hurting her or you. I only want to leave."

He sounded sincere enough, Elena decided, but she also had thought that about Elijah once. Then he went behind her back and betrayed her.

Finn slowly let go of Jenna and took a step away from her. Elena immediately went over to her aunt and pulled her to the side. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Jenna assured her niece.

Stefan kept watching as Finn moved closer to the door. The both stared each other down while Finn went through the door. Then he was gone.

"What was that about?" Stefan asked.

"He's going after the others. They know where Esther is," Jenna explained. "How did you know where I was?"

"I got a text message from Rebekah. She said you were here. We didn't know what to think of it, but after we couldn't find you anywhere..."

Rebekah?! Jenna didn't know what to think about that. It was nice of her, she guessed.

"We should go now. Do you know where they're going?" Stefan asked and led the others back upstairs.

"Yes and no," Jenna said, but stopped when she saw Damon coming out of the living room and meeting them in the hall.

"I'm guessing this is where they're headed?" Damon asked and held up Jenna's drawing.

She nodded, "I don't know where that is."

"But I'm correct in assuming that you led them there?" Damon asked irritated.

"You don't understand nor will any of you listen to me. I wanted to talk to Esther and find out what her plan really is. Also, Rebekah kind of made me and she's a little scary," Jenna tried to explain.

Damon raised his hand to silence Jenna, "We'll talk about this later. Let's go."

"You know where it is?" asked Elena.

"I have an idea." Damon said and handed the drawing over to his brother as they were leaving the house and walking towards the car.

Stefan looked at it, "Looks like one of the cottages out in the woods around Mystic Falls."

Damon nodded, "That's what I was thinking."

 **xxxxxx**

By now they were all running through the woods to get to the little cottage, or what was left of it, in the middle of nowhere. According to the Salvatore's this one was their best guess. They knew the woods here better than Jenna did. After all, they were around when Mystic Falls was a lot smaller than it is today and before they had started building modern houses.

Jenna knew that even if they made it there, they wouldn't be able to stop death. Whoever it might be, and her best guess was Esther, she felt it was going to happen. She thought about sharing as much with the rest, but she was getting a little out of breath and she was more occupied with not tripping on the uneven ground.

Eventually they reached a small clearing. The four of them rushed out into the open, drawing all the attention to themselves. They stopped running, all eyes were on them.

It seemed like Esther and her children had some kind of standoff with each other. Finn stood a little further away from, Elijah turned towards him. He was probably the one who had stopped him from getting to their mother.

While everyone was still surprised by their arrival, one of the Originals used the distraction to make his move.

Jenna watched as Klaus ripped his mother's heart out of her chest. She drew a deep breath in and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again it felt like someone had put the whole scene before her into slow motion. Esther's body hit the ground, the grass started to get stained by her blood while her children watched her.

Jenna looked from Esther's dead body over to the Originals gathered across from her. In their faces she saw shock, grief, and relief in varying degrees. Klaus only stared at the bloody heart in his hand. Jenna led her eyes wander further over to Finn, the only one without much emotion on his face.

That was weird, seeing how he's the one who should be most affected by it, Jenna thought. Instead the wheels in his head seemed to be turning. He was calculating the situation, making plans.

When she followed his line of sight, she noticed he wasn't looking at his mother's body. He was watching Damon, no, he was looking at the stake in Damon's hand. When did Damon get that? Had he been carrying it on him the entire time?

Jenna looked once more to Esther's body on the ground. By now she lay in a pool of her own blood. Her head turned slowly towards Jenna. Her voice sounded breathless when she said, "If one dies, they all die."

Then she smiled in a sadistic kind of way. Jenna blinked her eyes rapidly, no way was this really happening.

Sure enough, when she focused again, Esther's head was facing the other way and everything was in normal speed again.

"It's not over," Jenna whispered and turned to get away. She didn't get very far before Finn cut her off.

"It's not wise to let you out of my sight. I can see that now. You're coming with me."

With a last look over to his siblings, he grabbed onto Jenna and sped away. Elena screamed after them, but Stefan held her back. Damon followed instead. Kol and Elijah exchanged a quick look and took both off after them as well.


	8. White Oak

**8**

The Mikaelsons were regrouping in their home after their search for their older brother.

"There's no trace of Finn in or around Mystic Falls. He must have left town with the girl. I don't understand what's so special about her. She seemed plain enough," Kol said.

"Don't forget, she freed mother and found where she was hiding," Elijah reminded his younger brother. Jenna wasn't just an ordinary human anymore. She was no longer to be overlooked.

"It gets worse," Rebekah had just arrived back from her last attempt to find a trace of Jenna and her brother. "I went back to the cave mother's coffin had been stored in. I thought maybe I could find something there."

"Did you?" Elijah asked.

"There were markings on the wall. Here have a look." Rebekah pulled her phone out and opened an image of the cave wall. Elijah looked at it first, then the rest.

Rebekah explained, "It speaks of a worshipping around the white oak tree. Look at the calendar. It's dated almost three hundred years after we had fled back to the old world."

"That's impossible." Kol said and took a closer look again, but his sister was right.

"That means there is still white oak out there that could kill us all," Elijah concluded.

"The stake..." Klaus closed his eyes and cursed. All his siblings were looking at him puzzled, so he elaborated, "At the clearing, before the two of you and Damon took off after Finn, Damon had a stake in his hand. I had seen it, I think Finn might have too, but I hadn't really thought much of it until now. After all, an ordinary stake couldn't kill any of us."

"If they really have white oak...who knows how many stakes...and Finn knows...and he has Jenna..." Rebekah had a very bad feeling about this. Their mother's bonding spell was still intact. If one of them were to die...

"I won't let that happen!" Klaus almost screamed and stormed out of the house. He had to do something about this.

 **xxxxxx**

"It's been two days, Stefan. What if he hurt Jenna? This should not have happened," Elena said and ran her hands through her hair. She was pacing up and down in the kitchen. She was worried about Jenna.

Neither Damon nor Elijah or Kol had been able to catch up to Finn. They had no idea where he would have taken her. So far they hadn't heard anything from either one of them.

"I don't think he'll hurt her. He said he needed to keep an eye on her. Maybe he needs her for something...we'll find her." Stefan hugged Elena to his chest. He wished he could do more, but couldn't think of anything. Bonnie was already working on a locator spell, but she also had problems with zeroing in on a specific location for Jenna.

"I don't know what it is, but I can't get a location," Bonnie entered the kitchen and sat down at the kitchen table, frustrated. "Maybe they are magically hidden or maybe this has something to do with Jenna. She certainly is...something. Maybe she is blocking me without knowing it."

"Thanks for trying, Bonnie," Elena said and sighed.

The doorbell rang and Stefan went to open the door. He was expecting Damon and Ric to show up, but why would they ring the bell. After opening the door, Stefan knew why. It wasn't them. It was Klaus.

"Why are you here?" Stefan asked, trying not to show his surprise.

"No hello? How very rude," Klaus laughed.

"What are you doing here?" Elena appeared behind Stefan. She was not in the mood for any of the Mikaelsons.

"I'm here to offer my help," Klaus explained, smiling. The kind of smile Elena knew meant he had an agenda of his own. "May I come in?"

Stefan and Elena exchanged a look, then stepped aside to let Klaus enter. They were desperate. Klaus followed them into the kitchen and was pleased to notice that Bonnie was also present. That would speed things up a bit.

"What kind of help did you want to offer?" Stefan asked.

"I'm looking for my brother and I'm sure you're looking for Jenna. Surely working together will speed up the matter. But first things first," Klaus wasn't smiling anymore now. "I want you to hand over the white oak stakes you have. Then I will help you."

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked, pretending not to know.

"Damon had a stake with him in the clearing. So I wondered why...I know there must have still been some white oak around here somewhere. I'm right in guessing that you found it, no?"

The room fell silent for a moment. Bonnie exchanged looks with the other two and Klaus waited, patiently. He hadn't been completely sure about the white oak, but their reactions were enough confirmation. Rebekah had been right.

"You said stakes, we only have the one," Elena said.

"Don't try to be smart. You can bring them or I can take them by force, you're choice."

"You might die trying," Bonnie said to everyone's surprise with quite some menace in her voice.

Klaus raised any eyebrow, "In case you think about attacking me, think of Jenna. You don't know where she is or what my brother has done to her. If I die now, so will Finn and you may never find the lovely Jenna again."

Bonnie sat back in her chair, "What do you propose?"

"You bring me the stakes and I give you some of my blood. You can use it to find my brother, can't you?"

"I guess I could try," Bonnie said. She hadn't anything of Finn's to try a locator spell with. Since it hadn't worked with Jenna, maybe this would. They shared their mother's blood and their lives were currently bound together.

"We agree then, fantastic," Klaus said and smiled again. "You will bring the stakes. Don't try anything stupid."

After Klaus had left, Elena tried to get Ric on the phone to bring him up to speed. Bonnie and Stefan remained in the kitchen, talking.

"Is this really a good idea? This is our only weapon against them," Bonnie said. She wanted to find Jenna just as much as the others, but she also didn't want to lose their only working weapons.

Stefan shook his head, "We have to bring them all of the stakes. It's too risky not to."

Elena came back and told the others that she had informed Ric and Damon about the deal they made with Klaus. Neither one of them had been happy about it, but they said they would get them all rounded up.

"You know, I was thinking. We can give Klaus all the stakes we have, but what about Jenna's? She hid it somewhere. We can't give Klaus a stake we don't know about, right? Once we find Jenna, she can tell us where it is. This way we'll still have a weapon."

Stefan and Bonnie both smiled and agreed. Looks like they would still have a chance to kill the Originals after all.

 **xxxxxx**

Finn and Jenna were sitting in a booth in a diner, waiting for their orders. Daylight was fading outside and Jenna had become hungry.

Both stared at each other from across the table. So far Jenna refused to be of any help to Finn. She didn't take very well to being kidnapped. It was just rude. And to top it off, Finn had even made her drive a stolen car. Apparently, he had never gotten around to learning it with being stuck in a coffin for centuries.

He had made her drive for hours. Jenna wasn't even sure anymore in which small town they had stopped in eventually. They were still within state limits, though. For the past couple of nights they had stayed at a motel. Jenna had tried to get away a few times, but Finn had stopped her every single time and had warned her to stop trying.

"Here is what I don't understand," Finn started, "Why would Damon carry a stake around with him when he knows that an ordinary stake can't kill an Original?"

Jenna shrugged, "How would I know?"

"I think you do."

Jenna crossed her arms in front of her chest and fell silent again. She was not going to tell the suicidal vampire about the white oak stakes.

"You were a lot more talkative when we were locked in the basment," Finn noted.

"I wasn't hungry then. I get grumpy when I'm hungry," Jenna said and looked around for the waitress.

When the food finally arrived, Jenna didn't wait and dug right in. She was starving. Apparently as a vampire, Finn no longer understood how many times humans have to eat.

"And that's what passes for food this century?" Finn asked, watching Jenna eat the greasy burger and fries.

"Want to try? It's good."

"No, thanks," Finn said leaned back against his seat. He had his own cravings to fight with. However, watching Jenna eat the greasy food made him momentarily forget how hungry he was himself. I didn't look very appealing to him.

"So, how much longer are we going to stay in this town?" Jenna asked. She figured Elena and the rest were looking for her and Finn's family was looking for him. It was only a matter of time until they would be found.

The sooner the better, Jenna thought. She wasn't sure how she could sent word to the others. Finn watched her every move, kept her away from phones or other means of communication.

Even her weird powers, or whatever you want to call it, weren't working. If she only knew how to turn it on, maybe she could reach Elena that way.

"Not much longer. We have to keep moving."

Finn knew they'd be looking for them, but he still had to come up with a new plan.

"With your mother dead, who's going to be strong enough to kill you now?" Jenna asked, suddenly a lot chattier now that she had had something to eat.

Finn shrugged, "It doesn't matter how I am killed, as long as I am while still linked to my siblings."

"About that...why? Why do you have to die, why is being alive so horrible?"

"We should not be alive. It's unnatural to live this long. We're monsters, killing in order to survive. You don't know my family. What they have done, the blood trail they have left behind them through centuries."

Jenna thought about this for a moment. He wasn't wrong. Vampires killed humans in order to survive. But she had met vampires who were stronger than that, who had control over it. They were still good people. It was more a case to case situation, but Finn only saw his family.

"Clearly, you're a glass half empty kind of guy, but you could try..."

Finn's voice turned hard, "I missed the past 900 years. Lying in a coffin, my body asleep, my mind awake. It was torture and I'm not going back to that."

"So is that it? You're pissed because they didn't wake you until now? You're angry with them. You know, that's exactly what therapy was invented for. If you worked through your issues with you family, you could maybe have a life you like living."

"As a vampire..."

"Well, there's that," Jenna allowed and finished the rest of her food. "But it could be worse. You could see things that aren't there, hear voices in your head and scream every time someone dies. Try not going mad finding your dead friend's body in the woods in the middle of the night, not knowing how you even got there."

Finn looked at Jenna for a moment before he spoke again, "You don't know what you are, do you?"

Jenna pressed her lips together and shook her head. She had no idea at all, how could she.

"I have met someone like you once and I have talked with my mother about you. She knew right away what you were," Finn said.

"Which is?" Jenna asked, her heart beating fast. Finn leaned across the table, Jenna leaned in as well.

"If you'll stop trying to escape and actually start being helpful, I will tell you once we figure out a new plan."

Jenna sighed and leaned back. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.

"You want me to help kill you?" she asked doubtfully.

Finn nodded, "Basically."

"There is something you're not telling. Probably the same thing your mother was hiding," Jenna said, not agreeing to Finn's deal.

"And you're not hiding something?"

"I'll tell if you tell," Jenna smiled, but already knew he wouldn't give up the information.

"I think it's time we get back. We'll have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Finn threw enough money onto the table and led Jenna out of the diner, making sure to keep an eye on her in case she would try to get away again.


	9. Lilly

**9**

By the next day all white oak stakes had been rounded up. The only one missing was the one Jenna had hidden, but the Originals didn't know about that. Damon and Stefan had arrived early in the morning at the Mikaelson's to get it over with. Elena had insisted on going with them.

"This is all of them?" Klaus asked and inspected the bag with the stakes.

"All that we have," Damon said. It wasn't exactly a lie.

"How do we know you're not lying?" asked Rebekah.

"Because I want to find Jenna. Who knows what you're brother has done to her," Elena said angrily. Rebekah nodded, understanding. She wanted Jenna found as well, she had started to like her. Rebekah didn't believe that Finn would hurt her, though. He'll keep her hostage, but she'll be fine unless she does something incredibly stupid.

"Alright then." Klaus handed the bag over to Rebekah who immediately started throwing them into the fireplace.

While Rebekah watched and made sure that every single one of the stakes burned to ashes, Klaus made good on his part of the deal and drew some blood from his vein. He filled a small vile with it and held it out to Damon. When the latter reached for it, Klaus pulled back and smiled.

"Why don't you give Bonnie a call and tell her to come? She can do the locator spell here. This way I know we'll all be on the same page," Klaus said. "Wouldn't want you taking off without me."

"Us," Rebekah corrected his brother.

"This was not part of the deal," Stefan said.

Klaus smirked, "It is now."

 **xxxxxx**

Finn and Jenna had been sitting on a bench in the small town center. It was a nice place. Flowerbeds, benches and a playground surrounded a white gazebo. This place reminded Jenna a little of Mystic Falls. She wondered if vampires were also running around in this town, other than the one sitting next to her.

"People keep staring," Finn murmured to himself, but Jenna heard it.

"In a big city no one would look at us twice. There you find all sorts of different people, but small towns are different. People know each other and every outsider attracts attention," Jenna explained.

"Nothing much changed then…"

"And the way you push me around town...I'm surprised no one said anything so far. Well, not to our faces anyway."

Finn laughed and said nothing.

"What's so funny?" Jenna asked.

Finn shrugged, "The sheriff had come by the motel when you were asleep last night. Apparently there had been talk around town. People were worried what we might be up to in their beloved small town."

"What are we up to?" Jenna asked. So far, she hadn't gotten an answer to this question.

"Waiting for someone who can help."

"Help with what?"

Finn didn't answer that and turned silent again. Jenna was beginning to get frustrated with his attitude. He always had a brooding, slightly painful expression on his face and didn't talk much except when he was ordering her around.

Jenna sighed, "What happened with the sheriff?"

"I ate him," Finn said seriously and managed to keep his face straight for a moment. Just long enough for the shock to settle on Jenna's face. Then he smiled and laughed again. Occasionally the brooding was interrupted by a joke or a genuine laugh.

"No worries, I compelled him to go away. I assured him we were law abiding citizen and weren't looking for trouble."

"I'm glad you find this all so funny."

There went another chance to get word to her family. With the sheriff compelled, Jenna figured he wouldn't be any help anymore. Not that she knew how to get to him in the first place. Her captor never lets her out if his sight.

On the other side of the gazebo, Jenna noticed a young woman about her age walking their way. She was a bit shorter than Jenna was and her hair was dark and cut into a bob. She looked nervous and kept looking from side to side. Jenna wasn't sure if she was looking for something or making sure no one was looking for her.

When she spotted Jenna watching her, she stopped and stared. Finn had noticed her too and stood up, signaling Jenna to follow.

"Is this who we're waiting for?" Jenna asked and followed Finn over to the woman. Up close, she seemed to be breathing a little faster. Jenna figured her heart must have been racing.

"Are you the one who contacted me?" The woman asked.

"Yes." Finn nodded and continued, "There is no need to be afraid. I'm not here to hurt you. I want your help."

"With what exactly?"

"Maybe we can talk about this somewhere else?"

The woman nodded and explained that her place was nearby. When they started walking towards the direction the woman had come from, Jenna decided to introduce herself.

"I'm Jenna, by the way. What's your name?"

The woman looked at the stranger, apparently deciding if she should answer that. Jenna smiled at her and tried to put her more at ease by deliberately walking beside her, pushing Finn behind them. That must have been encouragement enough.

"My name is Lillian. You can call me Lilly. I was surprised to get your message. I would have never thought my family would have ever crossed paths with yours. I am not sure if I'll be much help to you. "

"Why would you think that?" Jenna asked, trying to figure out what was going on. She must be talking about the Mikaelson's family. She probably thought Jenna was one of them.

"I'm not the most skilled witch in my family," Lilly explained, getting nervous again.

"But the only one still living," Finn injected from behind them.

"How did you find me?"

"My mother had been searching for the descendants of other witches she used to know."

Lilly said nothing, but Jenna understood better now what this was. Finn had been looking for another witch, probably to help him kill himself and his siblings. That much was not a surprise. The witch was, however. She didn't strike Jenna as someone who would typically be involved in something like this. Being contacted by an Original had probably been a shock to her. This explained why she was so nervous.

They arrived at a small one-story house a few minutes later. Jenna thought it was weird that Lilly didn't lead them up to the front door and instead showed them the way to her backyard. She indicated for them to take a seat on the green plastic chairs.

"You understand that I won't actually invite you inside," Lilly said and sat down herself. "No offence, but my grandmother would turn around in her grave if I ever invited a vampire into my home."

Finn smiled faintly, but remained silent.

"What is it you need my help with exactly?" Lilly asked and mentally braced herself for the answer.

Ideally, she would not have shown up to this meeting. She knew the stories about the Originals. Her grandmother had spent a lot of time telling her about them. Lilly had never known which facts were true and what her grandmother might have made up, but getting that call had scared her nonetheless. She had a feeling the vampire would have shown up on her doorstep no matter what.

"As you know, your ancestors go way back to, let's call it, my time," Finn started to explain. "My mother was a powerful witch and she knew other powerful witches. One of them being Ayana who is an ancestor of the Bennett Family. There was another witch, Cora, who she was also good friends with and they each had formed a connection allowing them to draw magic from each other should the need arise."

Jenna was silent and listened carefully to Finn explaining the past. Jenna didn't know about any of the witch history of Mystic Falls, but it explained why Esther had needed Bonnie and her mother for the ritual. Cora must be Lilly's ancestor and Jenna had a feeling she knew where this was going.

"My mother was killed and is currently trapped on the Other Side once again. I need you to find a way to connect with her to finish what she had started."

"Which is?"

"Ridding the world of me and my family once and for all."

Again, Jenna was struck by the calmness Finn talked about his own death. As if there was nothing more important than to finally be gone from this world. Jenna wasn't the only one; Lilly was taking a moment to process the request.

"Let me get this right, you want me to help your dead mother killing you and your siblings because you think I have a connection with her through my ancestors?" Lilly asked, not sure if she understood this right.

Finn nodded, "Yes, that's exactly what I'm asking you to do."

"Why don't you use the Bennetts for this?" Lilly asked.

"That is no longer possible," Finn said without attempting to explain any further.

Lilly looked doubtfully over to Jenna for confirmation. Jenna shrugged, "He really means it. I don't get it either."

"And you're okay with that?" The confusion on Jenna's face made Lilly clarify what she meant, "Aren't you his sister? You also have a death wish?"

Jenna realized that she had never made it clear when she introduced herself who she really was. "Oh no, I'm not a Mikaelson or a vampire. I'm the hostage."

This made even less sense to Lilly.

"You can ignore her. She's only here because she causes too much trouble when left without supervision," Finn said.

"What trouble have I caused you?" Jenna asked, slightly offended.

"You killed my mother," Finn answered without missing a beat with an icy tone.

Jenna raised her hand, "I did not kill her. Klaus ripped her heart out, not me."

"You told him where to find her."

Jenna didn't say anything after that. It was pointless to have this argument and he was right. Jenna had found out where Esther had been hiding and she had shown the drawing to Rebekah and Klaus who figured out the rest. Strangely enough, she felt no remorse or guilt about that. Maybe it had meant to be this way all along.

Lilly cleared her throat to break up the intense staring contest between her two guests.

"How am I supposed to do any of this?"

"Maybe you should try to contact the Bennetts," Jenna suggested casually.

"Like I said, that is no longer a possibility. My siblings and I are linked together. All you need to figure out is how to kill me and we _all_ die," Finn said and stood up. "I could be making all kinds of threats. I could tell you that I will kill you if you refuse, but I think we can skip all that and leave it at me asking for your help. Don't you agree?"

Lilly nodded, not knowing how to refuse his request without ending up dead. She had no doubt that he would kill her in a heartbeat and her confident in her magic wasn't great enough to try and take on an Original.

"There is one more thing. I need you to do a simple cloaking spell for me and my friend here." Finn grabbed Jenna and made her move to stand beside him. Jenna glared up at him.

"I need a few ingredients that I don't have here at the house," Lilly said slowly as she reevaluated the strangers in front of her. When she had met them earlier, it had seemed that they were here together, but Lilly understood now that Jenna wasn't here willingly.

Lilly figured it all depended on the vampire's mood how much freedom Jenna really had. It would probably also depend on his mood what would happen to her if she failed to find a way to kill him. The thought alone was so strange.

"I can have the spell ready in a couple of hours."

Finn nodded and said that they would be back later. On their way to the motel Finn had calmed himself down again. He had almost lost his temper back there for a moment, not that Jenna had noticed that.

"Nice try suggesting contacting the Bennett witch. Don't try that again or I will kill Lillian."

"You need her."

"She's useful, but not the only answer to my problem. Don't think I have forgotten about that stake."

Jenna sighed, it had been worth a shot and maybe Lilly would try after all. If she could find Bonnie than the others would know where to find them.

 **xxxxxx**

Everyone was sitting around the Mikaelson's living room, waiting for Bonnie to arrive. There was tension in the air and no one had said a word since Elena had called Bonnie.

Eventually Stefan was the one to break the silence. "What happens when we get a location? Are we just taking off without a plan?"

"What plan do we need?" asked Klaus. "I can handle my brother. I brought him back the first time he ran. That won't be a problem."

"I'm just saying he must be planning something. Why else would he take Jenna with him? What if he's prepared for us?"

Elena had thought about that too. She was worried about Jenna and wished it were over already. She had felt bad about not taking Jenna seriously before. Her aunt had tried to tell them something, but everyone had dismissed her. Finn hadn't been so stupid and now he had Jenna with him.

"He probably is, but there will be two of us and one of him," Rebekah said. Much like Klaus, she wasn't too worried about it. They could take Finn together.

"Where are the other two?" Damon asked suddenly, referring to Elijah and Kol.

Klaus shrugged, "Out and about."

The doorbell rang. Rebekah was the first to get up, "Finally, we can get this over with."

The spell itself didn't take long to do. Bonnie had everything ready from last time she tried to locate Jenna. She spread a state map across the table, because they assumed that Finn hadn't gotten very far yet. They had only been gone for a few days and somehow none of them believed he'd leave the country. He still had business to take care of.

Bonnie picked up a crystal that belonged to her grandmother once and dipped it in the blood Klaus had provided. She concentrated not on finding Klaus, but someone with the same blood as his.

It took about ten minutes and a false start when it showed the location of Elijah and Kol first, but eventually the crystal dropped onto the map, marking the location of Finn Mikaelson.

"What is he doing in a small town like that? It is a long drive from here. Is there something important there?" Stefan wondered aloud.

"Only one way to find out," Klaus said and fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed his older brother. "Elijah, good news. We know where they are."

While Klaus informed his brother where he needed to go, Damon became more irritated by each passing second. "Why are you sending them ahead? That wasn't the deal. I thought two against one was enough."

Rebekah shrugged and smiled, "I never said which two."

"No need for fighting," Klaus said. "You are free to take off after them, but by the time you catch up it will probably already be over. They'll bring Jenna back, don't worry."

Elena didn't see it that way. There was plenty to worry about in this situation. "I'm going."

Before anyone could stop her, she left the house and marched to the car. The Salvatores and Bonnie were following her. Neither one of them would let her go alone, but they also knew they wouldn't be able to change Elena's mind.

Once they heard the engine start, Rebekah turned to her brother, "We're not really leaving this to Elijah and Kol to sort out. Finn will be expecting us."

Klaus nodded, "Of course not. Let's go."

 **xxxxxx**

Jenna was sitting in in the green plastic chair in Lilly's backyard for the second time today. Finn had given Lilly some time to gather all she needed for the cloaking spell. Jenna secretly hoped that Bonnie had worked her magic already and that they were on their way. She'd even take any of the Mikaelsons at this point.

"Okay, I have everything ready."

Lilly had spread some herbs around the table and put a small bowl in front of her. There was also a knife, which made Jenna a little uneasy. Lilly started to put the different ingredients into the bowl in a certain order and recited something from a notebook that lay beside her.

"I'll need blood from each of you," Lilly said and took the knife from the table. Finn held out his hand willingly. Lilly pricked his finger and let a few droplet of blood mix with the herbs in the bowl. Then she turned to Jenna who was not exactly sold on it.

"Don't worry, it'll only sting for a moment," Lilly assured her and took Jenna's hand.

Jenna winced as the blade cut through her skin. She watched some of her blood drop into the bowl. Lilly started mixing it all up with a wooden stick. Jenna watched as the blood became one with the herbs.

The motion of the stick in the bowl combined with Lilly's monotonous voice put Jenna in a trance like state. When she lifted her eyes from the bowl, everything seemed different and a little more washed out.

Lilly was still stirring, Finn was watching her, but Jenna was no longer a part of that reality. She got up and followed the sound coming from behind the trees that bordered on Lilly's backyard. Jenna was sure they had not been here before.

Jenna walked right by the first couple of trees. When she turned back, there was nothing but more tress. No sign of Lilly or Finn in the backyard. She wondered if she should be scared, but somehow she knew that it wasn't real. She was having another one of those strange moments.

She walked for a little while until she finally found the source of the sound. Turns out it was a woman humming in the middle of the forest. A branch crunched under Jenna's foot and the humming stopped. The woman turned around and Jenna gasped.

"Esther?"

"I was wondering if I'd see you around here."

"You're dead. I watched you die. How is this possible? Are you doing this?" Jenna asked moving a few steps closer.

Esther spread her arms wide, "This is what is called The Other Side. It is where people like me go after they die. We can't find peace, but we aren't going straight to hell either."

"I'm not dead. Why am I here?" Jenna asked, still not understanding how she got here. She did remember Finn mentioning this place before when he explained to Lilly what he needed from her.

"You are still very much alive, Jenna, but you are special. You have a connection to death and therefore to this place. You can cross dimensions, tap into the whispers of the dead. It's really very interesting," Esther explained.

A connection to death, Jenna repeated the words over in her head. She knew when Klaus had killed Elena, she had found Mason's body and she felt it when Bonnie's mom died. Now she was here, a place only the dead can enter under normal circumstances.

Jenna shook her head to clear it. She needed to stay on point here. "Finn is still trying to finish what you started, but there is more to it than killing the first vampires. I know there is more to it."

Esther smiled at Jenna, "And you are absolutely right about that."

"What is it that happens when Finn dies?"

"You already know the answer to that, Jenna. You know I turned my children into the first vampires. I want nothing more than to undo the mistakes I have made. The world will be a better place without vampires. Maybe this way I can redeem myself and finally find my own peace."

"But it's not just your children. They have turned other people into vampires and so on. How can you kill them all at once?"

"I don't have to. I only need one of them to die."

"If one dies, they all die," Jenna repeated the words she heard Esther say after she had died in the clearing. Jenna thought she had meant that all her children would die, but what if she had meant it differently.

Jenna knew that in order to be turned into a vampire you had to ingest their blood then die. They had created you and you might create others in turn, but each of them were connected through blood.

Blood. Bloodline. Death. Linked. If one dies, they all die.

Could it be this easy? Like in the stories when it says that if you kill the first vampire everyone he had turned will die with him. That would mean that if Finn succeeded in killing himself, his siblings would die because they were linked to Finn along with every vampire that belonged to their bloodlines. That would be every vampire in the world, including Stefan and Damon.

Jenna's eyes lifted back up, when they met Esther's, the witch smiled. "I see you get it now."

Esther turned around and started humming again. Jenna tried to ask more questions, but she couldn't get the words out. There were so many thoughts going through her head, it started to hurt. She felt like screaming, but just before she did, Jenna snapped back to reality. She was back sitting in the green plastic chair in Lilly's backyard.

Had they noticed something? Neither one of them seemed to pay any attention to her. Lilly was putting away the bowl and herbs. Finn was still watching her every move. Jenna figured he trusted Lilly no more than he trusted her.

"It's done. Neither one of you can be found through magic anymore," Lilly said and sat back down.

Jenna tried hard not to freak out. What was she supposed to do now? She had to stop Lilly from contacting Esther and she had to make sure Finn wouldn't die. The Originals needed to be unlinked from each other.

She could see why the idea of a vampire free world was appealing, but she also counted two vampires among her friends. Jenna also didn't know which bloodline Stefan and Damon belonged to and Elena would be devastated if either one of them died. Bonnie would lose her mother a second time.

Jenna sighed and closed her eyes, her headache increased.

"What's wrong?" Finn asked Jenna.

"Nothing," she lied. "I'm just tired. It's been a long day."


End file.
